Ecclesiology And Eschatology Essay

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” This is the first statement that is mentioned in the Bible that Christians know. (Genesis 1:1) This sentence shows the start of what we know as Christianity but also of the entity that has given us life, God. Theology is the study of God, how he functions, his traits, his message, and motives. Theology also has subcategories that encompass it such as: anthropology, hamartiology, soteriology, eschatology, and finally ecclesiology. These five categories summarize the basic meaning how a biblical theist would think of man’s origin and purpose of life, man’s sinful nature and salvation of man, the establishment of the church, and finally the second coming of Jesus. The first theological

This aspect of theology deals with the creation, purpose, dynamics, and functions of the church. The word “church comes from the Greek word of “ekklesia” meaning gathering or assembly of people. In the earliest stages of Christianity, the church did not have a name but was rather an actual assembly of people who would come together and discuss the word of God and share it with others who have not heard it. Today the term church is correlated with a building of some sort, however the church or ekklesia can be seen in the popular statement of Jesus that says “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) As the church progressed on it became more of a divine ordained establishment and not just assembly. The church now had membership and ordinances that qualified you for church membership. Personally I do not believe that a Christian has to be a member of a church. I myself do not attend church regularly nor do I have a church membership back in my hometown. Today I see church membership now as something to brag about than something that was established by God. Many boast about being a member of a certain church or denomination or about being baptized but do not see the theological principles behind these actions. The church is a divine establishment and

According to the prophecy, Jesus will definitely return to Earth and establish his kingdom. The time of this is unknown to humans and only by God. (Towns 347) Jesus will ascend from heaven and all believers will disappear into the clouds commencing the rapture. One verse states “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” (I Thess.4:17) The tribulation will occur soon after in which the anti-Christ (the devil) will try to lead non-believers astray from God. Supposedly no one will know when the rapture or the tribulation will occur, but it does not seem logically possible. According to the scripture it states that during the rapture those who are believers will just disappear as if they went missing. Because of this it seems impossible for someone to not notice that the rapture has occurred since those who they know are believers are now out of the blue missing. Also anyone who evens knows scripture but does not believe can infer that the rapture has commenced and that they are now in the tribulation period. Thus I find it impossible for the Anti-Christ to try to persuade the non-believers to continue to not believe since they have already seen their Christian brothers and sisters disappear. However if they still do not believe after the seven year tribulation